Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Vol. 3

Time for another midweek manga review from yours truly! This week I’ll be taking a look at Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Vol. 3, but before we get to that, some news!

Recently Deb Aoki was one of four judges in the 2015 Manga Translation Battle, an event sponsored by the Digital Comics Association of Japan, with support from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. She tweeted from the event, which eventually led to a lengthy and in depth discussion regarding the manga publishing in Japan and their attempts to reach a wider international audience. She helpfully Storified the discussion which grew to include many members of the American manga publishing industry, including translators and editors, as well as fans, comic creators, and more.

Kuklo’s desire to see a Titan, led him to stow away in a wagon during a Survey Corp expedition and now, much to his dismay, he’s getting his wish! Meanwhile, Sharle discovers that her attempt to help Kuklo may ultimately lead to a fate worse than that she sought to rescue him from. Satoshi Shiki and Ryo Suzukaze’s look back into the long forgotten past of Hajime Isayama’s continues with Attack on Titan: Before The Fall, Vol. 3!

Much of this volume is dedicated to depicting the rather brutal and horrific battle outside of the wall. It’s incredibly well done, looking intensely brutal and hopeless for most of the volume as a single Titan slaughters his way through the Survey Corps ill fated expedition. Satoshi Shiki’s artwork does an amazing job at depicting the massacre in an appropriately disturbing manner, with the leering grin of the Titan contrasting nicely with the traumatized expressions on the Survey Corps members faces. There are a few places where the in panel action is lacking in clarity and while this does mess with the panel-to-panel flow of the action, it’s not enough to really damage the overall affect of the brutality on display. As with the previous volumes of this series, Satoshi Shiki does a wonderful job depicting the Titans, giving them a skin texture that’s reminiscent of the anime series more so than the Hajime Isayama’s original manga. It’s a nice touch and one that helps adds to the inhuman nature of the Titans, further separating them from the humans beyond the typically bizarre proportions and obvious size differences.

On the plot and character front there’s little development to really speak of. Kuklo learns a little bit about himself and there’s some developments involving him and Sharle that don’t bode well for either of their futures, but it’s really just the hook towards the end of the volume that’s meant to keep us hanging and wanting to return. The highlight and focus is clearly the intense battle with the Titan which dominates nearly all 192 pages of Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Vol. 3. Given that most of the previous volumes have focused on building up Kuklo and Sharle’s friendship and their respective traumatic pasts, taking a break from that grim oppressive atmosphere for an exciting and bloody fight was a welcome change of pace.

Overall Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Vol. 3 is one of hell of a fun read. It’s a quick exciting read with some fantastic moments and highlights buried within it’s blood soaked pages. I was a little iffy on the series based on the slow build up, but if this is going to be the kind of payoff we get on a regular basis then I’m quite happy to sit through the slower and more dreary moments.

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Vol. 3 is available now from Kodansha Comics. Review copy provided by the publisher.